North Carolina has long been a breeding ground for culturally significant musicians, from John Coltrane and Nina Simone to Thelonious Monk, Earl Scruggs and Randy Travis.
“A lot of times, when people think about music, they think Motown in Detroit, they’ll think Atlanta, they’ll think Texas, California, or New York,” said Tomisha Price-Brock, director of university bands and assistant professor of music at Johnson C. Smith University. “But a lot of the historical roots of music started right here in North Carolina, from cultural history from the Appalachian region all the way to the history of blues and gospel.”
Now, armed with a $200,000 grant from the National Endowments for the Humanities, Price-Brock aims to share that history with a larger audience. Her project is called “Harmony Across the Carolinas: An Exploration of Music’s Role in Culture, Education, and Technology.”…